Railroad track with rail de-icing means



March 22, 1955 MANUEL DE GRACIA (MENGOD) 2,704,517

RAILROAD TRACK WITH RAIL DE-ICING MEANS Filed Aug. 8, 1951 Manuel De Gracia (Mangod) IN V EN TOR.

United States Patent RAILROAD TRACK WITH RAIL DE-ICING MEANS Manuel de Gracia (Meugod), Frackville, Pa.

Application August 8, 1951, Serial No. 240,851

1 Claim. (Cl. 104-273) This invention relates to new and useful improvements and structural refinements in railroad tracks, and the principal object of the invention is to provide a railroad track having means for de-icing the rails, so as to prevent sliding or slipping of the wheels, either while driving or braking.

The above object is achieved by providing the railroad track with hollow, metallic ties and extending conduits through the ties for the purpose of carrying a heating medium therethrough, whereby the ties and the rails mounted thereon may be sustained at a temperature which would prevent icing conditions.

Although the invention is primarily intended to be used at switches, crossings and in the vicinity of stations and yards, it could obviously be used along the entire right of way, if so desired.

With the above more important objects and features in view, and such other objects and features as may become apparent as this specification proceeds, the invention consists essentially of the arrangement and construction of parts as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a section of a railroad track constructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional View of one of the ties; and

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional detail, taken substantially in the plane of the line 33 in Figure 2.

Like characters of reference are employed to designate lilre parts in the specification and throughout the several views.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in details, the general reference character designates a railroad track including a plurality of ties 12 and a set of metallic rails 14 of a conventional type which are secured to the ties in any suitable manner, such as for example, as at 16.

Each of the ties 12 is of hollow, metallic construction and comprises an upper wall 18, a lower wall 20 and a pair of side walls 22, these several walls being welded or otherwise suitably secured together.

A heating agent conveying pipe 24 extends longitudi- Patented Mar. 22, 1955 nally through each tie and is in contact with the walls 18, 20, 22 thereof, and suitable elbows 26 are provided at the ends of each pipe, as shown.

Flexible couplings 28 connect the elbows of the pipe in each tie to the elbows of the pipe in the adjacent ties, whereby the several pipes, elbows and couplings afford a continuous passage or conduit for a heating agent such as hot water or steam.

It will be readily apparent that when the heating agent passes through the conduit or passage, the pipes 24 contacting the walls of the ties 12, will cause the ties to become heated and the heat therefrom will be conducted to the rails 14, so that icing of the rails will not be possible.

Finally, it will be observed that the end portions of each coupling 28 are secured to the associated elbows by suitable clamps 30, the purpose of the flexible couplings 28 being to facilitate individual rising and falling movement of each tie when the wheels of a train pass over it.

It is believed that the advantages and use of the invention will be clearly understood from the foregoing disclosure and accordingly, further description thereof at this point is deemed unnecessary.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

In a railroad track, the combination of a plurality of hollow metallic ties, a set of metallic rails secured to said ties, lengths of heating pipe extending through the respective ties, elbows provided at the ends of each length of pipe, and tubular flexible couplings substantially parallel to said rails and connecting the elbow of the pipe in each tie to the elbows of the pipes in two adjacent ties, said pipes, elbows and couplings forming a serpentine coil, whereby to afiord a continuous passage for a heating agent for preventing formation of ice on said rails.

UNITED STATES PATENTS References Cited in the file of this patent 

